Super Non-Conforming

So the Super Bowl was kinda interesting. The halftime show was kinda meh. And the ads were kinda blah. Sure, the Tide ad was maybe sorta kinda funny. But two ads did stand out. One was the Coke ad that made history for using the “them/they” pronoun. It might seem like a little thing, but for the non-binary and gender non-confirming it’s a wonderful recognition during the biggest national televised event of the year. The thing that people who rail about PC culture don’t get, and have no doubt never contemplated, is how big something so small can feel when you’ve never felt seen before. Calling a person why the correct pronoun hurts no one, but instead makes another human being feel acknowledged and respected. It takes so little to simply be kind and inclusive, so why not try it.

The other ad was also gender-norm defying in a fun and inclusive way. It was, for all things, the NFL. As I watched I braced internally for the probably inevitable “no-homo” to ruin everything. But it never came. It was just delightful from start to finish. I guess that makes up for all the lingering brain trauma from concussions and domestic abusers in your ranks. (Kidding, the NFL has issues man. But this ad was pretty great, if an obvious rip-off of this even greater ad.)